Tim Rozon on his hairy Wynonna Earp role

To say Tim Rozon is a fan of comic books would be a grave understatement. Rozon, who portrays Doc Holliday on CHCH’s Monday night sci-fi romp Wynonna Earp, blew his daily per diem on comics while attending WonderCon to promote the show for Syfy. He geeked out meeting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and DC’s Jim Lee and spent all his free time walking the convention floor. So to land a role on a series based on Beau Hill’s graphic novels was, literally, a dream come true.

We spoke to Rozon about the research he did before playing Doc, the character’s complicated relationship with Wynonna, dealing with a devilish dude like Bobo Del Rey and why growing a real moustache was so important.

I’m a history buff, so going into Wynonna Earp I assumed Doc and Wynonna would be friends because of his connection to Wyatt. That doesn’t appear to be the in the show; if anything he appears to be aligned with Bobo.
Tim Rozon: People ask if Doc is good or bad and my answer to that is, what’s good and what’s bad? I’ve played villains and I don’t play them thinking I’m bad. I think what I’m doing is good. Doc lives in a grey area of good and bad and I think everyone on this show is driven by their own mission. Everybody feels they have something they need to get done for themselves and Doc is hell-bent on something. He’s going to use whoever and whatever he can to get that mission done. If he’s using Bobo or Wynonna, it really doesn’t matter to Doc.

Do things change? You’ll have to wait and see.

I love the fact that, at this point, Wynonna and Waverly just think he’s a super-fan with a great wardrobe.
Yeah! I mean, the writing is great. The funniest thing for me about the character is he’s not scared of a gunfight, but a selfie? He has no idea what that is. Getting in an elevator is what’s going to give Doc pause now.

Talk about growing the moustache and your research into Doc Holliday.
Here’s the thing. Doc Holliday is an iconic character and I grew up loving him. He’s been done really well by a lot of other people before. If I say, ‘I’m your Huckleberry,’ people know who that is. For those that don’t, it’s Val Kilmer as Holliday in Tombstone. I knew exactly who Doc Holliday was when this part came up and it was important for me to be as historically accurate as possible. So I went back and did a little research and the original moustache was big and had that little soul patch thing. I knew I was going to at least go with the moustache. It took about four months to grow that and I need it to play him. There is something about being on set with the hat, the gun and the moustache that really helps that character come out. It’s hard for me to do it right now. I’m so far away from Doc in regular life.

We also made sure that I had the right gun. In my research, I knew that it was a Colt Thunderer that we needed. And when I talked to production they told me that’s what they’d got, so I was really happy. I was carrying around a replica of the same gun he had.

Wow, did you take it? Do you have it?
I wish! I said, ‘Can I have this and hang it on my wall?’ They said, ‘No Tim, it’s a gun. You need a permit.’

Prior to becoming a television critic and owner of TV, Eh?, Greg David was a critic for TV Guide Canada, the country's most trusted source for TV news. He has interviewed television actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes folks from hundreds of television series from Canada, the U.S. and internationally. He is a podcaster, public speaker, weekly radio guest and educator, and past member of the Television Critics Association.